Tube-mill.



B. EAS'ION. TUBE MILL. APPLICATION FILED T11R21, 191s.

Patented Apr. 15, 1913.

2 SHEETB-BHBET 1.

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TUBE MILL. APPLICATLON FILED 21, 1913.

1,058,953. Patented Apr'.-15, 1913.

2 SHEETS-HEIGHT 2.

WILLIAM B. jEASTON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

Turn-MI L.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 15, 1913.

Application filed February 21, 1913 Serial No. 749,818.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLiAM B. E'ASTON, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Illino1s, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Tube-Mills, of which the following is a specification:

This invention relates to machines for crushing ore and other materials,and relates particularly to the type of crushers known as tube mills.

As iswell known to persons familiar with the construction and operationof tube mills, said mills consist of a suitable metal shell rotatablymounted by means of trunnions through which the material to be treated,as

the more or less finely comminuted ore from stamp mills or the like, isadapted to .be fed as by a current of water introduced into said tubemill with the material to be treated therein. To provide for introducingma I terial into said shell and discharging it therefrom,

through the supporting trunnion of saidshell. As is also well known, thegrinding,

axial openings are formed crushing, or pulverizing of the ore iseffected by means of a mass of loose stones introwill be carried partlyup the side of said duced into the shell of the tube mill so as to fillthe same almost half full. Thus, as the shell of the tube mill rotates,said-stones shell in the direction of rotation, and falling back, willoperate to crush 'ore particles caught between contacting surfaces ofsaid One object of the,invntion is to increase the capacity of tubemills by providing means for delivering the treated ore or othermaterial to the discharge opening of said mill after it has passedthrough said mill and has been subjected to the grinding or pulverizingact-ion thereof. s

A further object of the invention is to provide a construction for thedischarge end of tube mills whereby the oreor other material undergoingtreatment therein can escape from the further action of the grinding orpulverizing. agencies of the tube mill when said material reaches thedischarge end of said tube'mill, thus preventing long-com.

tinued action of the grinding or pulverizing devices on the ore at thedischarge end of the mill, and resulting in a much more uniform productand a much smaller percentage of ore crushed finer than desired. ofChicago, in the county of Cook and State Still a further object of theinvention is to provide'meansat the discharge end of the tube mill forregulating the time required for the ore undergoing treatment to passthrough the crushing or pulverizing devices of said mill proper, thatis, the time during whichthe ore passing through the mill willbe'subjected to the action of the grinding devices, or in other words,to provide means for regulating the sizes of the particles of oreproduced by the mill.

To effect the foregoing ends, a tube mill of my invention comprises thevarious features, combinations of features anddetails of constructionhereinafter described and claimed.

-In the accompanying drawing, in which my invention is illustratedFigure 1 is a central sectional view of the discharge end of a tube millembodying my invention; Fig. 2 is an end view of that part of themachine shown in Fig. 1, the head ofthe shell being broken away toexpose the perforated plate through which the treated material iscarried by the current of water; and Fig. 3

.is a fragmentary sectional plan view taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2, onan enlarged scale.

As my improvement relates only to the discharge end of the tube mill,and, as the general construction of such mills is generally Well knownto persons familiar. with the art,

I have, in the drawings, shown only the discharge end of the mill,descriptionthereto.

Referring now to the drawing,.A designates the shell of the tube mill, Athe head which closes the discharge end of said shell,

and will limit my formed on which is a trunnion A adapted to be mountedin a suit-able fixed bearing, not shown, in a familiar manner. The shellA is provided with ,a lining A of suitable refractory material, saidlining being so constructed and arranged that'it may be readily imity tothe shell A and which is provided with a central opening 2, the edges ofwhich engage a groove 3 formed in a boss at the inner end of a ring 4supported by means of a' suitableconnection with the head A of the tubemill substantially concentric with the trunnion A As shown, said ring 4is supported by means of webs 5 formed integral with said ring and withsaid head A To provide for assembling the plate 1, said plate ispreferably made in segments, each of which is supported by means ofindependent connection with the head A con- 1 sisting, as shown, ofbolts 6, which extend through said perforated plate 1 and head Ainserted over which are spacing sleeves 7 which define the'width of thespace or chamber between said plate 1 and head A For reasons presentlyapparent, the ring 4 is substantially conical, the sides thereofconverging outwardly, preferably on curved lines, as shown at 8, andsupported within the trunnion A in such position that the bore thereofwill register withithe bore of the ring 4 is a perforated pipe 9. Asshown, said pipe 9 is supported within the trunnion A by meansof' wedgeblocks 10 inserted between said pipe. and trunnion.

To provide for inserting the stones into the tube mill and to permitchip-s and other light objects which will float and which are ,too largeto pass through the perforations in the plate 1,'to escape therefrom,the

opening through the ring 4 and pipe 9 is left open, and, to prevent thestones from working out of the mill through said opening, a screw orspiral llis formed on the lnner surface of said ring 4 and pipe 9,

which forms in efii'ecta screw conveyer, the

pitch of which is such that rotation of the millin the directiondesigned will operate to feed material through the opening in said ring4 and pipe 9 into the shell A.

Thus, .the screw or spiral 11 being lefthanded, the tubemill will rotatein a'direction opposite to the movement of the handsof a clock.

Pivotally mounted in the space between the head A and the perforatedplate 1 are series of vanes 12, the width of said vanes being slightlyless thanthe width of the space or chamber in which they are mount-- ed,and the pivotal axesthereof extending substantially radially withreference to the axis-of the tube mill. As shown, the pivot "bearingsfor said vanes 12 are formed in bosses 13 and 14 formed on oppositeends' of said vanes, and in corresponding bosses 15 formed on the webs 5which connect the ring 4 with the head A of'the tube mill. Formed insaid bosses 13, 14 and 15 arerecessed bearings adapted to receive pivotpins 16'and 17, of which the pins 16 may be fitted to turn freely in therecesses'in both the bosses 13 and 15, and the pivots 17 are formed atthe inner ends of pins 18 secured in suitable holes formed through theshell of the tube mill:

When turned into the same plane, the

plate 1 into the space between the perforated plate and the head A andto raise the same, and that, as said vanes pass upward, the water andore particles carried thereby will run off therefrom, and, falling uponthe surface of the ring 4 and the webs 5, will be conducted into thedischarge openingin the trunnion A whence they will drain outwardly inthe usual man ner. In

order to retain the water and ore particles on the vanes 12', the frontsides of said vanes are preferably provided with longitudinal ribs 19comprising marginal ribs and any desired number of intermediate ribs,and are also provided with transverse ribs 20 fonnedsubstantially attheir inner ends, and, if desired, at spaced points lengthwise thereof.Said ribs will operate, in an 0bvious manner, to retain the water onsaid vanes until said vanes are raised above a horizontal position.

With the described construction, itis also obvious that the feed of thevanes 12 may be varied by changing their pivotal adjustment, varyingfrom a designed maximum when said vanes are in Iradial planes topractically nothing .when

they are turned into planes at right angles thereto. To provide for thusvarying the feed of the vanes 12 which will regulate therate of flow andthus the current of water't'hrough the tub mill, means are preferablyprovided for adjusting said vanes 12 pivotally. As shown, said meansconsist of bolts 21 threaded throughthe head A of the tube mill, one foreach vane 12, the inner ends of which are connected by links 22 with thevanes 12, said links being pivotally connected to said bolts 21 and tosaid vanes 12, whereby turning said bolts 21 in or out will operate, inan obvious manner, to swing said vanes 12 pivotally in the mannerdesired. Said "vanes are adapted to be locked in desired pivotaladjustment by means of lock nuts threaded to the bolts 21 and adapted tofrictionally engage the head A.

A particular advantage of the adjusting means shown is that it isaccesible for operation from the outside of the shell. And, while Iconsider the means shown as being preferable, I do not desire to limitmyself thereto, as other means will suggest themselves to others skilledin the art. a

I do not desire to limit myself to the specific perforated plate shown,as my m- 13 vention contemplates the use of any desired form of platewhich will define a space or chamber at the discharge end of the tubemill for the vanes 12, constructed and arranged to permit drainage intosaid chamber as by leaving a space between the pe- 'riphery of saidplate and the shell of the port saidshell, one provided with an admis-.

sion opening, and the other with a discharge opening, of a perforatedplate secured in said shell and which forms a chamber at the dischargeend of said tube mill, "vanes pivotally mounted in said chamber, meansfor adjusting said vanes pivotally, and means for delivering the waterand material raised by said vanes into the discharge opening from saidtube mill, substantially as described.

2. In a tube mill, the combination with a shell and trunnions whichrotatably sup port said shell, one provided with an admission openingand the other with a discharge opening, of a perforated plate secured insaid shell and whih forms a chamber at the discharge end of said tubemill, vanes adjustably mounted in said chamber, means acessible foroperation outside of the tube mill for adjusting said vanes, and meansfor delivering the water and material raised by said vanes into thedischarge opening from said tube mill, substantially as described.

3. In a tube mill, the combination with a shell and trunnions whichrotatably support said shell, oneprovided with an admission opening andthe other with a discharge opening, of a perforated plate secured insaid shell and which defines a chamber at.

the discharge end of said tube mill,vanes pivotally mounted in saidchamber, ribs on the front sides of said vanes, means for ad justingsaid vanes pivotally, and means for delivering the water and materialraised by said vanes into the discharge opening.- from said tube mill,substantially as described.

4. In a tube mill, the combination with a shell and trunnions whichrotatably support said shell, one provided with an admission opening andthe other with a discharge opening, of a perforated plate secured insaid shell and which defines a chamber at the discharge end of said tubemill, vanes pivotally mounted in said chamber, longitudinal andtransverse ribs on the front sides of said vanes, means for adjustingsaid vanes pivotally, and means for delivering the water and materialraised by said vanes into the discharge opening from said tube mill,substantially as described.

5. In a tube mill, the combination with a shell and trunnions whichrotatably sup port said shell, one provided with an admis sion openingand the other with a discharge opening, of a perforated plate secured insaid shell and which forms a chamber at the discharge. end of said tubemill, vanes pivotally mounted in said chamber, means for adjusting saidvanes pivot-ally comprising screws threaded through the head of saidshell, and links'pivotally connected to said screws and to said vanes,and means for delivering the water and material raised by said vanesinto the discharge opening from said tube mill, substantially asdescribed.

6. In a tube mill, the combination with a shell and trunnions whichrotatably support said shell, one provided with an admission opening andthe other with a discharge opening, of a perforated plate secured in-said shell and which forms a chamber at the discharge end of said tubemill, vanes pivotally mounted in said chamber, means for adjusting saidvanes pivotally, and means for delivering the water and material raisedby said vanes into the discharge opening from said tube mill, said meanscomprising a substantially coneshaped ring, webs which connect said ringwith the head of the tube mill at the discharge end thereof, said websforming a fixed continuation of said pivoted vanes, the inclined surfaceof said ring converging outwardly into the mouth of the dischargeopening of the tub mill, substantially as described.

7. In a tube mill, the combination with a shell and trunnions whichrotatably support said shell, one provided with an admised and arrangedto permit drainage into the chamber at the discharge end of said mill,vanes adjustably mounted in said chamber, means for adjusting saidvanes,and means for delivering the water and material raised by said vanesinto the discharge opening from said tube m1ll, substantially asdescribed. 4

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention, 1 afiix mysignature in the presence of two subscribmg' witnesses this 1st day ofFebruary 1913. I,

- WILLIAM B. EASTON.

Witnesses:

MARY H. BIXEL, F. O. STOCKING.

